At the beginning of the year, a dedicated group of ASHS students made the decision to commit both of their 2023 Impact Project semesters to the Evolocity Challenge. This gave them around 30 weeks to design, build and test drive an electric cart or bike to be able to compete in three different disciplines.
The vehicles could be made of any materials. The carts had to use the same 350 watt motor and controller, but the bikes could use any motor up to 1000 watts. Of course sustainability was a strong driver, so all the teams made their vehicles from recycled, repurposed material that they found around the school. The teams were keeping an eye on the planet as well as their budgets.
With three carts and one bike, the four teams headed off last weekend to compete against the 37 teams entered into the Auckland regionals. They were competing in three different challenges:
Gymkhana - an agility course
Drag Race - all about the speed
Sprint Race - two laps flat out
The four teams did ASHS proud, with the following results:
Standard Kart
ASHS Team Formula 1 came 1st overall (two 1st’s and a 3rd in the three challenges)
Engineering Design Award
ASHS Team SLEVF came 1st overall
Electrical Engineering Award
ASHS Team Jank Machine came 3rd
Earth Care Award
All four ASHS teams were awarded 1st Place collectively. Being thrifty and sustainable certainly paid off.
Congratulations to:
SLEVF
Formula 1
Spark Plug
Jank Machine
Impact Projects are such an incredible way for young people to learn alongside their passions. Special thanks to IP Mentor and teacher extraordinaire Steff Chambers (whose love for all things on wheels is clearly infectious), and her Impact expert Hayden Schmidt.
If you would like to see one of the teams in action, click here to see the snippet from The AM Show on TV3.
